Car-wheel-flange lubricator.



No. 710,769.4 vPatented Oct. 7, |902.

G. W. NEWTON.

CAR WHEEL FLNGE LUBRICATR.

(Application filed May 23, 1902.) (N0 Model.)

/J s W D; W

'Nrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE'.

GEORGE \V. NEXVTON, OF H-UBBARD, OHIO.

CARWHEELFLANGE LUBRICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Batent No. 710,709, dated October 7, 1902.

Application filed May 23. 1902. Serial No. 108,694. (No model.)

To all w/tont it may concern:

Be it known that 1, GEORGE W. NEWTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hubbard, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful CarlVheel-Flange Lubricator, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices employed for the purpose of lubricating the Hauges of car-wheels, more particularly of the wheels of street-cars, when passing around curves at the points where the wheels bear against the guard-rails and also when passing other points where excessive wear occurs, as at frogs and switches.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction,as hereinafter shownV and described, and specified in the claims.

1n the drawings illustrative'of-the invention, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view.

The device may be applied to any form of railway or street car, either steam, electric, or other style; but for the purpose of illustration it is shown applied to an ordinary street-car truck, 10 representing the platform, 11 11 the axles, and 12 12a 12b 12c the llanged wheels, each having its respective flange 13 of the ordinary construction. The truck, axles, and wheels and their connections are of the usual construction, as the invention is applicable to any of the various forms of street-car structures. The rails are represented at 13, each with its respective guardrail 14 le, usually formed in one piece with the rail, as shown, in street-car construction. In ordinary railway construction the Yguard'- rails are formed of ordinary rails spaced from the main rails and suitably braced, and the invention is applicable to that particular forni or any other form of guard-rail usually employed.

The device which is the subject of the present invention is designed to apply a lubricant to the flanges 13 instead of to the inner face of the guard-rail, as in ordinary railway construction, and this lubricant-applying means consists of rollers 15 l5a 15b 15C, preferably one for each wheel, as shown. These rollers are formed of some soft or yieldable substance which will absorb the lubricant and impart it to the flanges 13 when engaged therewith, from which it will be transferred to the guardrails as the wheels revolve, and thus lubricate the guard-rails and minimize the friction caused by the slip of the inner wheels in passing around curves. In the ordinary street-car construction the lubricant, generally in the form of a semisolid, is applied by hand to the guard-rail; but this is a laborious and wasteful process, as it is almost impossible to apply the lubricant in the place most required. With the improvetnentherein illustrated, however, the lubricant can be applied to the exact spot required and no more ofthe material used than' may be necessary and used only when necessary, so that the tracks will not be unduly coated with the lubricant material, as is the case when applied by hand in the ordinary manner. The rollers will be arranged to apply the-lubricant only at such times and places as it may be required and will remain out of engagement with the flangewheels when not required, so that the lubricant will be employed'with the greatest economy and undue coating ofthe wheels and tracks avoided. Some means will be employed under the control of the conductor, engineer, or inotorman whereby the rollers may be engaged with the flanges when required, andan approved means for thus operating the rollers is illustrated in the drawings. The rollers are mounted upon the opposite ends of shafts 16 16, respectively, each shaft supported from the platform 10 by hangers 17, the shafts adapted to be rotated in the hangers to cause the rollers to be engaged with and disengaged from the flanges on the tractionwheels or to be supported out'of engagement with the flanges at the will ofthe operator. An approved form of mechanism for rotating the shafts 16 '101A consists in a longitudinal shaft 18, centrally supported beneath the frame 10 by hangers 19 and with one-end extending upward through the platform convenient to the hand of the motorman, as indicated at 20, and supplied with a spring 21, by which the shaft and its operating-arm 2O will be maintained normally in their central positions. Rising from the shaft 18 is an arm 22, connected by oppositely-extended rods 23 23, and two arms 2-1 24a, respectively extendiu g from the shafts 1G 16a, by which means, it will be readily un-A IOO derstood,the rotation or oscillation of the shaft -18 by its arm`20 will cause the shafts 16 16 to be correspondingly oscillated, and thus alternately engage the rollers 15 15 and 15b 15c with the flanges of the traction-wheels. By setting the arm 2O vertically in the car-frame, it will be noted, the lubricating-rollers will be supported out of engagement with the flanges of the traction-wheel, and when the arm 20 is moved to the right or left the lubricating-rollers will be correspondingly engaged with the opposite flanges, and thus irnpart thereto lthe requisite lubrication, as before noted. By this simple arrangement the absorbent rollers, being charged with a suitable lubricating material, may be engaged with the flanges of the traction-wheels at any desired point in the line of the road and to either side of the track, as the case may be, to properly lubricate the guard rails, as above noted.

Any suitable material may be employed as a covering for the lubricating-rollers, such as sheep-pelt, saturated with oil or grease and large enough to engage a su flcient space upon the ange to lubricate all the parts which may engage the guard-rail. The lubricatingrollers may be of any size required and may be of any suitable length and will preferably be concaved to engage the curved inner face of the flange.

The shafts 16, 16, and 18 may be of any size and suspended from the framework in any suitable manner and will be modified to conform to the trucks of the various constructions employed.

Any suitable form of the holding-spring 2l may be employed to maintain the handle 2O in its normally central position.

The various parts may be altered and modified in minor particulars without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrilicing any of' its advantages.

The lubricating-rollers may be arranged to be applied to any required part of the wheel orto any required point of the periphery, according to the construction of the car.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim is- 1. A device for lubricating carwheel flanges, consisting in rollers charged with lubricating material and supported movably adjacent to the flanges, and means for engaging said rollers with said flanges, substantially as described.

2. A device for lubricating carwheel flanges, consisting in rollers charged with lubricating materialr and supported movably adjacent to said flanges, a shaft carrying said rollers, and means for operating said shaft to cause said rollers to be engaged with said flanges, substantially as described.

8. A device for lubricating car Wheel flanges, consisting in rollers charged with lubricating material and supported movably adjacent to the flanges of the opposite wheels, means for causing said rollers to be alternately engaged with said oppositely-disposed flanges, substantially as described.

4. A device for lubricating carwheel flanges, consisting in rollers charged with lubricating material and supported movably adjacent to said flanges, means under the control of the operator upon the platform of the car, wherebysaid rollers are caused to be engaged with said flanges, substantially as described.

5. In a device for lubricating car-wheel anges, a supporting-frame, flanged wheels carried by said frame, rollers adapted to be charged with lubricating material, a shaft supporting said rollers adjacent to said flanges and adapted when rotated to cause said rollers to engage said flanges, and means for rotating said shaft, substantially as described.

6. In a device for lubricating car-wheel flanges, the truck-frame, flanged wheels supported upon axles carried by said truck-frame, rollers adapted to be charged with lubricating material, shafts supporting said rollers adjacent to said flanges and adapted, when rotated to cause said rollers to engage said flanges, a longitudinal shaft connected to said roller-shafts and adapted to alternately oscillate them, and means for operating said longitudinal shaft, whereby said rollers may be alternately engaged with the opposite wheels upon said axle, substantially as described.

7. In a device for lubricating car-wheel flanges, the truck-frame, flanged wheels supported upon axles carried by said truck-frame, rollers adapted to be charged with lubricating material, shafts supported from said trnck-'frame'and carrying said rollers, a longitudinal shaft supported from said truckframe, means for connnecting said longitudinal shaft to said roller-shaft, and means for operating said longitudinal shaft, whereby said rollers may be alternately engaged with or disengaged from said llanges,substantially as described.

In testimony that l claim the foregoing as my own l have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE NV. NEWTON.

W'itnesses:

L. C. VAN Nass, J. L. GILLMER.

IOO 

